


Thaw (The Lookin' Through The Windows Remix)

by Veldeia



Category: Avengers Assemble (Cartoon)
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, Hypothermia, M/M, POV Outsider, Present Tense, Remix
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-24
Updated: 2018-02-24
Packaged: 2019-03-23 09:18:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,780
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13784451
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Veldeia/pseuds/Veldeia
Summary: Sam isn't sure whether he's more worried for Steve, who's gone missing in the cold, or for Tony, who seems to have lost his mind.





	Thaw (The Lookin' Through The Windows Remix)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Neverever](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Neverever/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Snow](https://archiveofourown.org/works/2397011) by [Neverever](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Neverever/pseuds/Neverever). 
  * In response to a prompt by [Neverever](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Neverever/pseuds/Neverever) in the [Cap_Ironman_Remix_Madness_2018](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/Cap_Ironman_Remix_Madness_2018) collection. 



> This story is a remix of [Snow](https://archiveofourown.org/works/2397011) by [Neverever](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Neverever/pseuds/Neverever), written for Captain America/Iron Man Remix Madness 2018. Thank you so much for letting me play with your fic—this was the first story I clicked on while looking for one to remix, and I knew right away I would need look no further.
> 
> Also thanks to [wynnesome](https://archiveofourown.org/users/wynnesome) for the helpful beta!

Sam isn't sure whether he's more worried for Steve, who's gone missing, or for Tony, who seems to have lost his mind.

Sam's not used to seeing Tony like this. He's been a huge fan of the Avengers and he's admired Tony's engineering genius for a long time. Tony's not just the brains of the team; he's the one who'll take the scariest of situations with a nonchalant joke and a cheeky grin, and then build his way around it in some way no one else could come up with.

"How is it possible that we're not seeing him? He's got to be _somewhere_!" Tony roars at the Avenjet's computer screen in front of him. "He can't have gotten that far. If there'd been some kind of a portal, we would've picked up the energy signature. We need better coverage. What aren't we using yet?" He taps his fingers on the console, clearly thinking fervently. "Oh, I know. We're in Siberia. Russian reconnaissance satellites!"

"Tony," Natasha says, her cool, calm, and collected voice a sharp contrast to his rambling. "I want to find Steve as badly as you do, but you do realize if you get caught hacking Russian satellites, you could cause an international crisis?"

"Me? Caught?" Tony exclaims incredulously. "I just need more eyes in the sky. It's going to be fine. Let's see..."

It still takes a long time to locate Steve; they have a lot of ground to cover, and most of it is densely forested and covered in a thick layer of snow, making it difficult to get a visual lock on anything. If Steve's comms had been online, they could've gotten to him in minutes, but without them, it's hours, instead.

Tony works like a man possessed, first from the pilot's seat, and then, with those options exhausted, from inside the AIM compound they’ve cleared earlier, digging through the surveillance data for any clues and trying to adjust the available tech for the search. All the others try to help to the best of their abilities: Natasha offering local knowledge and a calming influence; Clint trying to lighten the mood with wisecracks that Tony fails to return; Thor and Hulk patrolling the surroundings to make sure there are no enemies lurking. Sam stays close to Tony, assisting him in the engineering and coding. At one point, he catches Tony's hands shaking so badly he drops a wrench. Later, he's shocked to actually pick up a few mistakes that Tony makes while trying to write a search algorithm into AIM's system.

Before he actually met Steve and Tony, Sam didn't really understand how people sometimes got invested in others' relationships, but now, after seeing his two greatest idols in love, he thinks he gets it. Still, Tony's reaction seems somewhat disproportionate. It's not the first time they've lost track of someone, and it's Steve. It's Captain America. Sam knows Steve can survive just about anything, with his tactical smarts and his super soldier physique. So, it baffles him that Tony is so badly affected by this. It's almost like there's some piece of information Sam's missing.

He understands it better later, after they've finally located Steve.

As soon as they know where to go, Tony takes off in his armor, rushing through the snowy forest at breakneck speed. It takes all of Sam's flying skills not to lose sight of him. The others follow behind in the Avenjet.

They find Steve curled up inside a rudimentary shelter he's built. From a distance, Sam can tell with his scanners that Steve's alive. His temperature has dropped to 30 °C, and his pulse is much too slow, as one could expect in this kind of a scenario, but he's definitely alive.

Tony has similar scanners to Sam's, and he should see the same things, but nevertheless, Tony's muttering under his breath, over the comm channel that he probably forgot to close, "Oh no, no, no, no, Steve, I'm so sorry, we're too late. I got here as fast as I could. I'm sorry."

"Hey, it's okay," Sam calls out to him, trying to sound as soothing as he can. "We're not too late, Tony. He seems stable."

Tony hits the ground heavily and clumsily by Steve's side, snow flying up around him and falling down from the trees shaken by the impact. Sam lands with more care, folding his wings.

Tony casts a look at Sam over his shoulder, and even though he's wearing the armor, Sam can practically see the angry glare. "He's stable, all right. He might be perfectly stable for the next seventy years!" he growls.

That's when the penny drops, and it all suddenly makes sense to Sam. He feels like he's been a fool. The snow, the ice, the cold. The way Steve had been frozen for decades before SHIELD found him.

It wasn't Steve being lost that got to Tony so badly. It was Steve being lost alone in the cold.

Sam feels like he should apologize, maybe, but Tony doesn't seem to notice him anymore; he's dropped to his knees by Steve's unmoving form, and is reaching his arms around Steve. Steve looks half dead, frost clinging to his eyelashes, the skin of his jaw marble-white below his mask, his lips tinged with blue. He doesn't react at all when Tony lifts him up.

"I swear we'll fix this, Steve. It's going to be okay. I've got you, now. It's going to be okay," Tony repeats, like a mantra.

Sam follows him back to the Avenjet in silence.

They head home towards the Tower at top speed, through one of Thor's wind tunnels. Natasha takes the helm, with Hulk and Clint staying out of the way while Sam and Tony see to Steve.

Sam has a good understanding of how to take care of hypothermia, based on the field training he's gotten from SHIELD, but clearly, Steve's situation is something different. Even with the cautious steps they take to warm him, the blankets and the chemical heat packs, his temperature remains stubbornly lower than it should be, and he shows no signs of regaining consciousness.

"We theorized this could happen," Tony explains to Sam. He seems to have calmed down a little now that he has Steve in front of him, Steve's hand clasped in his. "We didn't know, of course, but it seemed likely there might be some kind of a unique response the super soldier serum induced in him when he got too cold. A kind of hibernation. If you look at his brainwaves, that's not sleep. That's more like a coma."

Sam has looked already, and it's not good; it's like Steve's mind has shut down, leaving nothing but the minimal required brain activity to keep his body alive.

"We'll fix this, though," Sam says. He feels like maybe he should put a supporting hand on Tony's shoulder, but he's not sure if Tony would appreciate that, so he doesn't. "We'll put this right. We're Avengers, that's what we do."

"You sound like him," Tony says, his voice breaking. He raises Steve's limp fingers to rest them against his cheek.

Over the next forty-eight hours, Steve sleeps too much, and Tony doesn't sleep at all.

They take Steve to a SHIELD hospital, because the medical facilities in the Tower aren't enough for someone who needs round the clock care. Steve's temperature settles at a few degrees below normal, and he's breathing on his own, but he doesn't react at all to any attempts at rousing him, his brainwaves showing no improvement. It feels unreal to Sam: as much as he knows Captain America is human, he's always seemed almost invulnerable, shrugging off injuries that would leave others bedridden. It's difficult to wrap his mind around the fact that being stuck in the cold has left Steve so sick. The idea that he might not wake up again in weeks or months—let alone years, or never—is unimaginable.

Tony only budges from Steve's side to argue with the SHIELD medical staff about treatment options. They don't come up with much. Their working hypothesis is that as long as they keep the surroundings safe and warm, Steve will surface on his own, eventually. They are reluctant about trying to wake him with medication, particularly since the serum tends to make estimating doses nearly impossible.

Tony doesn't want to wait, but he also doesn't want to harm Steve further, so he's stuck without any good options. He sits on the chair next to Steve, clutching his fingers. To Sam, the quiet intensity on Tony's face is even more uncharacteristic than the frenzy he worked up while searching for Steve. It's like he's withdrawn from the world just like Steve has, into another kind of hibernation.

The rest of the team take turns telling Tony he should rest. He refuses, even though the weariness makes him look ill, his face as pale as Steve's, the dark circles under his eyes almost like bruises. Once they realize there's no way they can get Tony to abandon Steve even for the shortests of naps, they take turns bringing him food and coffee instead.

It's pure chance that it's Sam's turn so that he's around when it happens. He's just entered the room carrying a sandwich and a cup of coffee when he realizes there's a new kind of tension in the air.

Tony's focus on Steve is so intense that he doesn't even seem to have noticed Sam coming in. He's leaning over Steve, Steve's hand between both of his. "Steve? Steve, it's okay, I'm right here. You're safe. Please, please, wake up," Tony pleads.

Steve's eyes flutter open, focusing on Tony, and Tony instantly grabs him in a tight hug.

"Tony," Steve breathes, his hoarse voice barely louder than a whisper, so different from his usual deep tone. "You got me."

"Of course," Tony replies, sounding choked. "I'm so sorry we were too late."

"Wasn't your fault. I shouldn't have gone," Steve says.

"No, you shouldn't have," Tony agrees. "Don't do that again, ever. I've been worried sick."

"It's okay. I'm here, now." Steve rubs Tony's back soothingly, and even though he's the one who was almost frozen, it's Tony who seems to melt, the constant tension finally leaving him as he relaxes in Steve's arms.

As quietly as he can, Sam places his offerings on top of the empty cart close to the door and retreats from the room. He feels a little guilty for overhearing a moment that was definitely not meant for his ears, but it's nothing compared to his joy at the warmth and love he witnessed.


End file.
